Tanya and Khancoban - Week 9

57: day off besides having a brush while Coby ate his dinner.

Day 58: We went for a walk down the road to graze while cars came past again. He's getting a lot calmer about them now. Still looking up when they come past but with a lot less worry, the very lush grass helps too. On the way back the neighbours dog ran out and followed very close behind yapping at us, Coby didn't mind at all, such good training for him!

I burned off this afternoon too and he spent a lot of time hanging around regularly coming up to check what I was doing and look in the wheel barrow.

Tomorrow (fingers crossed) our new dog fence is being started so we will use the opportunity to learn about how well bobcats and trucks pay :)

Day 59: The ponies had to stay in the small paddock this morning while the trucks came in and out with the fencing bits and pieces. This afternoon they came out and we went to have a look at things. He was a little cautious but I think most of it was due to too much energy, he does need lots of movement to keep the baby energy levels manageable.

After that we went for a walk up the road again to watch the cars go past. He was really good and started to not even lift his head as they came, until he got a little over confident and grazed right next to the road when one came past. He had a bit of a spook at it but nothing major, was back eating the next second.

Day 60: This morning we had a photographer from the paper come out. Coby was so lovely and calm with him even when he was moving things around and walking very close to him with the big cameras. He was a little concerned when he asked if we could stand inside the hay shed (Coby hasn't been in there before), but he handled it so well, even with the bobcat going on the drive. I got out his cone for him to pick up while we were in there and that got his concentration onto something he enjoys too.

Tonight we went for a walk with Matilda and Tug, and Jackie and Nichol. We went the furthest up the road we've ever been and he completely ignored most of the cars! We even had a few trucks go past and all he did was look up. On the way back there was some young children playing in their yard. Coby watched them very alert for about 2 minutes and then ignored them for grass. They came out to pat Tug and feed him grass and Coby still just concentrated on the grass :)

Day 61: Today we had a session on leading position at Liberty again, he's getting very good at this now, we've almost put it all on voice cues.

Tonight we went for a walk with our lovely new working student Ivy. Coby was full of beans!! He was trying lots of new things like leaping in the air and bucking! He was very good to just bounce to the end of the lead and then come back to me though. To extinguish this behavior, I just ignore it, distract him with grazing, and reinforce him every time he is walking calmly. By the end of the walk he had settled and we were able to try something new in pulling the bin down the drive way. He looked at the bin but didn't mind it at all really.

He really needs more space to get his energy out, but unfortunately until the fence is done they are confined to the yard and small paddock.

Then lastly he showed Ivy his tricks on the stump. He did his front end, tried to get his back feet on, tipped off the front end and then backed his hind feet back on to it! Pretty good proprioception!

Thank you Ivy!!

Day 62: Wonderful Rachel from Remedial Soulutions came to give Coby another treatment. He's learning to tell people what he likes and doesn't like. He had some more work done on his back to loosen it up, needles in his legs to help with moving fluid out of them, a needle in his nose which he asked for, and some more in his back. He was very, very good and is so comfortable with pretty much everything she does with him now.

Day 63: day off

Week 10 I'm aiming to get I'm out for more walks. I’d love to get him up to the forest. I want to do some fine tuning of his current behaviours and I'm going to try a different method of training the forequarter yield, I'll try to video this.